More than 150 Webster families in need will have a holiday meal to put on the table this Easter, thanks to a new community collaboration among three local service agencies.
At a well organized and efficiently run drive-through event held Tuesday afternoon, 151 cars pulled through the United Church of Christ parking lot on Klem Rd., each collecting a shopping bag packed with the makings for a complete Easter dinner. Each bag included boxed potatoes, canned corn, canned green beans, apple juice, pasta, pasta sauce, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and either dinner rolls or sliced bread. In addition, each family received a gift card from Webster NY Hope to be used toward the purchase their choice of protein for the meal (like a ham).
The free food distribution event was coordinated and run by a unique collaboration among three Webster service agencies: Webster NY Hope, Webster Community Chest and Gathering Place Webster. It grew from a need that has existed for several years, ever since the Webster Council of Churches discontinued its holiday food baskets program.
The idea came to Wendy Lesko at Gathering Place and Tracy Dennis at Webster Community Chest almost at the same time. They combined forces with Margery Morgan at Webster Hope, and plans were put into motion.
It was the first time the agencies had collaborated on a project like this. Each organization helped spread the word, and the original plan was to allow only 100 families to sign up. But several days before the scheduled distribution, that number had grown to 151 families, which put everyone into overdrive.
“I sent an email to all of the churches, all of the Scout leaders that I knew of, and some women’s groups,” Lesko said. “I explained the collaboration and our goal. I had a grocery list and asked them to consider signing up.” Several Scout groups and a handful of churches responded, but the group was still far short of what they needed to fill all the bags.
So they sent out another message through social media, this time asking for help from the Webster community in general. By Monday, the day before the distribution was scheduled, all of the necessary items had been collected. Then, that night, 44 community members — adults and lots of children — showed up at The Gathering Place to pack all 151 bags. It took them only a half hour.
“The community did this,” Lesko said. “It was a really remarkable thing.“
The goal is to hold a food distribution event four times a year: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and perhaps a barbecue or picnic sometime during the summer. And now that the whole team is in place, and they know the effort will be well supported by the Webster community, they’ll be feeding 150 families each time.
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(posted 3/29/2024)
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Love this caring community! 💕